Rocking chairs are chairs which are designed so as to allow the person sitting in them to gently rock or sway to and fro under their own power. Most people find such chairs comfortable to sit and their movement very relaxing. Rocking chairs have been in existence for quite a number of years, and remain quite popular.
Despite their age, two early rocking chair designs are still the most common today. The first of these designs is the typical rocking chair which generally comes to mind when the term is heard or discussed. It is a more or less standard (generally wooden) chair comprising a back, seat and legs and having two rockers, i.e. arcuate ground-engaging members attached to the bottom of the legs on which the chair is supported and about which the chair may be rocked.
The second design might be more commonly referred to as a swinging chair. Chairs of this design are generally bench-like (i.e. generally comprise a back, seat and armrests) and are pivotably suspended from a vertical surface above the chair vias ropes or chains. As with their cousins of the first design, these chairs are also capable of a rocking or swinging movement, albeit about their point of attachment to the overhead vertical surface.
While such designs are popular they are not without some drawbacks. Chairs of the first design are not affixed to the ground (or any other) surface and thus are capable of movement across the ground surface on which they sit when they are being rocked. Such type of movement is undesirable and may be hazardous depending on the environment in which the chair is located (e.g. a porch, etc.) Moreover, such chairs may present a hazard to small children, animals, or objects which may get underneath one of the rockers and crushed. In addition, such chairs may tip over if strenuously rocked.
Chairs of the second type have their own drawbacks. Primarily, they sway easily and are difficult for the young, elderly and infirm to get onto or out of. Moreover they require some effort to bring and maintain the swinging motion. They are typically large and cumbersome. Finally, while not generally a common occurrence, they may be pulled out of their point of anchoring to the overhead vertical surface or one of the ropes or chains from which they are suspended may break, in either case causing the chair to fall with obvious undesirable consequences.
To overcome some of these difficulties improvements upon these designs have been put forth. An example of such an improved rocking chair design is described in International Patent Application WO 93/087616 (Knowlson) published May 13, 1993. Such application descirbes a rocking or swinging chair comprising a stationary frame, a seat element supported by a seat frame and a support wherein the support is pivotally connected to and accommodated within the frame and the seat element is pivotably connected to a lower end of the support so as to be capable of reciprocating movement relative to the frame and further comprising arms pivotally connected at an upper end of the support, said armrests being capable of reciprocating movement relative to the frame in the respective opposite direction to the seat element.
The rocking chair design described in WO 93/08716 is not itself optimal. Specifically, the reciprocating movement of the armrests thereof and that of the support/seat are in opposite directions. Hence, the movement that a user of the chair will experience is "rowing-like" in that his or her arms and body will be moving in opposite directions; a movement that is generally not desired by those wishing to rock gently back and forth as with prior rocking chair designs. Moreover, the armrests of the WO 93/08716, are not connected to the body supporting members, and there is a gasp between armrest side walls and the seat. When this chair is in use the armrest side walls will remain stationary while the seat moves. It is therefore possible that objects (including children's fingers) may become lodged in between the side walls and the seat, damaging both the chair and or the object.
Moreover, none of the conventional rocking chair designs actually appears to an observer to be a normal armchair or sitting chair. It times ti would be desirable to have a chair which is capable of a rocking or swinging movement, which would nonetheless appear like a normal armchair or sitting chair.